Katie Britt to call Biden a 'diminished leader' in GOP response to the State of the Union

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Katie Britt will call President Joe Biden a “dithering and diminished leader” in the Republican rebuttal to his State of the Union address Thursday evening, according to excerpts of her prepared remarks.

The first-term Alabama Republican, the youngest woman in the Senate, is set to deliver a stinging election-year critique of the president, arguing that “the country we know and love seems to be slipping away.”

Britt, a 42 year-old former congressional staffer and mother of two, was elected to the Senate in 2022 with former President Donald Trump’s endorsement. She promised to come to Washington as a “momma on a mission” and has carved out a unique role in the GOP conference as an adviser to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and an experienced former aide on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

It's the third year in a row that Republicans have picked a woman to speak to the nation after Biden leaves the podium — and Britt’s remarks echo the same dark vision for the future under Biden and Democrats laid out by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in 2023 and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds in 2022.

“For years, the left has coddled criminals and defunded the police — all while letting repeat offenders walk free,” Britt will say in her response. “The result is tragic but foreseeable — from our small towns to America’s most iconic city streets, life is getting more and more dangerous.”

She criticizes Biden’s foreign policy, including his chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan and talk of a renewed nuclear deal with Iran. The excerpts of her prepared remarks do not mention Ukraine’s war with Russia, as Biden has aggressively pushed the Republican-lead House to take up a Senate-passed aid package.

Britt, who has made immigration a top issue, also slams the president on the border, calling his policies a “disgrace" that have led to higher numbers of border crossings during his presidency.

“Right now, our Commander in Chief is not in command,” Britt will say. “The free world deserves better than a dithering and diminished leader. America deserves leaders who recognize that secure borders, stable prices, safe streets, and a strong defense are the cornerstones of a great nation.”

The excerpts also do not mention Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, whom Britt endorsed in December. But she will say that the country is at a crossroads, and “I know which choice our children deserve – and the choice the Republican Party is fighting for.”